Kristen and I woke up with the sun. It was pretty
watching it rise over the inlet. We watched the Pelicans feeding
(love how they dive bomb) and even saw the back fins of a bunch of
dolphins out a ways from shore. No jumping, just their fins
breaking the surface. It was still fun to watch them!
When the girls woke up we ate some Krispy Creme donuts
we brought for breakfast, and then headed for the beach. We got
there around 8:30am! - VERY empty! :-) We enjoyed a couple
hours playing in the water and sand and picked through about a jillion
shells. Its not easy telling a 6 and 4 year old that they can't
take 20 pounds of sea shells on the plane with them! ;-)
We headed back for the last couple hours at the pool and
then headed to the room to shower and pack everything up for the flight
home. Checkout was MUCH less painful than checkin and we were
quickly on our way. The girls zonked out quickly, so we decided
to wait until Downtown Disney to do lunch. The traffic out of
Clearwater was not too bad, and it took much closer to the 2 hours I
had expected during the return trip. We ended up going to the
Rainforest Cafe for lunch/dinner. We got the Disney
Club/DVC/AP 10% lunch discount (He just picked a card!) :-) but it took
FOREVER. We finished with just enough time to head for the
airport. (Good - no room for any more purchases anyway!)
The drive to the airport was uneventful, and we arrived just under 2
hours early. Quickly returned the National Rental car and hauled
the bags to the checkin area. VERY busy. We were in a HUGE
line, when an Delta employee came and took us to a checkin kiosk.
It was pretty quick and painless, but then we had to stand in another
line to have them actually TAKE the bags. It was still about 30 -
45 minutes faster than that original line. Off we went to do a
bit of shopping. (surprise!) Actually, we first hit the
Disney 'Earsport' store. Pretty nice (new I believe) and Kristen
actually found several items she had seen no where else. A few
more items to cram in the carryons! :-)
After going through
the gate check (pretty easy, no major holdup here) we found that our
flight was running late. Good thing we have a long time between
connections! We got a snack, and relaxed for a bit while we
waited. Finally boarded about 1.5 hours late and then proceeded
to sit on the plane for almost another hour while they fixed the loaded
baggage they messed up the first time! :-( MANY unhappy
people that were now going to miss connections in Cincinati. FINALLY got in the
air, and landed 15 minutes before our connecting flight (we had had a 3
hour layover!) We RAN through the terminal, caught a bus, and
then RAN some more. We JUST made it! Whew!
Arrived in Binghamton on time, but minus two bags of luggage - one with
all the souveniors! But they were delivered the next day!
So thats about it! We got home REALLY late (or is that very
early?) at around 1:30am! I couldn't believe the girls were still
awake. They had slept a bit in the car on the way from
Clearwater, and a bit on the plane. They'll sleep well tonight!
We had a fantasic
trip this year. WDW was tons of fun as always, and we REALLY
enjoyed Vero as a break in between. Look forward to staying there
again. Now - I have to go plan our NEXT trip! :-)
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